NWDA funding to prepare Barrow business park for developers

The North West Development Agency has awarded £8m to West Lakes Renaissance for infrastructure and site preparation of Ramsden Business Park in South Cumbria.

The site will now be marketed to private sector developers as the first stage in the development of Barrow Waterfront Business Park, which aims to transform a former brownfield site into a high quality business location.

The overall 60-acre site can accommodate up to 633,000 sq ft of office, industrial, storage and distribution space. Ramsden Business Park is the first of three phases envisaged over the next 15 years.

Michael Baker, WLR regeneration manager, said: "The Waterfront Business Park is central to West Lakes Renaissance's delivery of The Waterfront Barrow in Furness Masterplan. This approval for Ramsden Business Park marks the start of that overall masterplan and symbolises an exciting stride forward for the economy of Barrow and Furness. The business park has huge potential to boost the local economy and therefore a significant emphasis is being placed on engaging local companies in the supply chain needed to make this exciting development a reality."

WLR, funded by the NWDA, is the official urban regeneration company for Furness and West Cumbria, which is striving to turn around the economy of the sub-region that stretches from Morecambe Bay to the Solway Firth.